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Bharatanatyam in New Zealand: a Story of Dance, Diaspora And Bharatanatyam in New Zealand—Unni 135 Bharatanatyam in New Zealand: A story of dance, diaspora and cultural change Swaroopa Unni Independent researcher Abstract Experiences of migration or diaspora has led to new predicaments for maintaining dance traditions (Ahmed, 2013; Brooks & Meglin, 2011). Current research is exploring how migrants learn to inhabit these new geo-political spaces. This paper will serve as a springboard for investigating how classical Indian dance forms such as Bharatanatyam plays a role in enhancing Indian identity in New Zealand. The study employs a combination of dance ethnography and autoethnography as methodologies for examining how this dance is being practiced in the South Pacific city of Dunedin. The journeys of migration involve a splitting of home as place of origin and home as the sensory world of everyday experience. What migration narratives involve, then, is spatial reconfiguration of an embodied self: a transformation in the very skin through which the body is embodied. (Ahmed, 2013, pp. 341–342) Experiences of migration or diaspora has led to new predicaments for maintaining dance traditions (Ahmed, 2013; Brooks & Meglin, 2011). Current research is exploring how migrants learn to inhabit these new geo-political spaces. This paper will serve as a springboard for investigating how Indian dance forms, such as Bharatanatyam, plays a role in enhancing Indian identity in New Zealand. The study employs a combination of dance ethnography and autoethnography as methodologies for examining how this dance is being practiced in the South Pacific. I am the primary investigator in this research and the ethnography draws from my memoirs as a dancer from India. I found an Indian dance school called Natyaloka School of Indian Dance that provides vital cultural education in the Otago region of New Zealand on October 6, 2011. The school is the research context for this paper, which is a work in progress. I begin by painting a portrait of Dance Research Aotearoa, 4, 2016 136 Bharatanatyam in New Zealand—Swaroopa Unni Bharatanatyam by turning to my reflections of learning the dance form and later relocating to New Zealand. As part of our family tradition, where all of us girls were enrolled in dance and music schools at the age of four, I joined my first Bharatanatyam class under the guidance of Smt. Kalamandalam Vinodini at the Nrithyalaya School of Classical Dance and Music in Kozhikode, Kerala. It was a Vijayadashami day, an auspicious day according to the Hindu calendar to start learning skills to acquire new knowledge. I was also enrolled for Carnatic Music (South Indian Classical Music) under the guidance of Sri K V Babu. After rigorous training and saadhakam (practise), I had my debut performance—Arangetram—at the age of nine. This was a stepping-stone to my dance career, and I continued my training in Bharatanatyam at the dance school under Smt. Kalamandalam Saraswathy, and also started training in Mohiniattam and Kuchipudi under my guru’s guidance. Since then I have been learning and performing these dance forms across several stages in India as part of my guru’s dance troupe. I also represented my school in various competitions and won prizes. Meanwhile, I also had my debut performance in music called Kacheri soon after my Arangetram. But then a few years later, during my teenage years to be precise, I stopped learning Carnatic music due to several reasons. One of the main reasons being my refusal to wake up at 5.30 am during weekends for my music classes. After my graduation I also started training in Kathak (a dance form from North India) under Smt Nirupama and Sri T. D Rajendra and was part of their dance company Abhinava. We performed across several stages in India, and here I was polished on how a professional artist works right from conceptualisation to the performance and responsibilities thereafter. In 2010 I became a part of the global Indian/Malaylai diaspora community. Moving to Dunedin with my husband was exciting and has been a major turning point in my life. At the stopover in Auckland, I saw people from my community all around me. Right from the florists, airport security, ground staff, cab drivers, to the duty manager at the hotel I stayed in for the night. But Dunedin was a whole new world altogether; a small beautiful picturesque town that has an old world charm to it. Unlike Auckland, there were fewer people from my own community. It was cold, windy and the air was crisp. I came here at the peak of winter and I found it really hard to sleep in a cold Dance Research Aotearoa, 4, 2016 Bharatanatyam in New Zealand—Unni 137 room. The heater was on and I had an electric blanket but that didn’t help me. The deafening silence around me made it even harder. I realised I was living in an alien world away from my family, away from home. Nevertheless, I was excited as I planned how I could start my new life there. I started working on my hidden agenda, to launch myself as a Bharatanatyam artist. I took part in the Dunedin Diwali Festival in 2011 and, seeing me dance, the parents who were of Indian origin started enquiring if they could send their daughters to me to learn Bharatanatyam. I was nervous at first as I realised it is a huge responsibility to mould young girls as beautiful dancers. After much consultation and thinking plus encouragement from my fellow artists, friends, family and blessings from my Gurus, I founded my dance school Natyaloka meaning ‘World of Dance’ on October 2011 in the spare room at my apartment with just three students. A year later I moved into my own studio and the number of students learning Bharatanatyam increased. Natyaloka is the only Indian dance school in the Otago region and thus, my passion slowly became my profession. The students who come to my dance school are of Indian origin from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Bangladesh, those who migrated directly from India and those who are not of Indian origin. The age range is between five years and 45 years and include a mix of school and university students, working adults and working mothers. I also take Skype classes with three students who moved to Ashburton, Oamaru and Christchurch. I am being promised more students from the community in Dunedin right from when their daughters are born. There I am, a migrant from India negotiating my identity in the diaspora by establishing myself as the Indian performing artist that practices Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Kuchipudi and Kathak. But I decided to take one step at a time. And Bharatanatyam was my first step. I started a new life from scratch with a sense of loneliness of being away from all the familiar sights, smells and affection of home. I tried to fit into the host society and nurture the nostalgia of being at home at the same time. This I did by fusing Indian clothes with western, watching Indian programmes and movies online, speaking my native language Malayalam within the house and English outside, cooking Indian cuisine at home and trying out different culinary treats that Dunedin has to offer, celebrating festivals with my community members, Dance Research Aotearoa, 4, 2016 138 Bharatanatyam in New Zealand—Swaroopa Unni listening to Indian music and practising and introducing my dance form to the community of Dunedin. In retrospect, I see how I was trying to recreate my home in a host society. By establishing myself as an artist and running a dance school, I became the quintessential Indian cultural link for the Indian diaspora and the people of Dunedin at the same time. Bharatanatyam: A story of revival and survival Bharatanatyam is one of the nine dance forms that have been given the classical status by the Indian government. The techniques are highly complex and are divided into three main sections—nritta (pure dance techniques), natya (expression) and nrithya (a combination of pure dance techniques and expressions using hand gestures, body language and face). The dance form demands precision, strong footwork, knowledge of rhythm patterns, music and the vocabulary. The footwork is done in three levels, aramandalam—a half sitting posture where the knee is bent outwards, with an erect torso and the foot is grounded firmly on the floor, muzhumandalam—a full sitting posture on your toes with knee bent outwards and an erect torso and samam—where you stand straight with a straight knee and feet together. The abhinaya, or the expressive part of the dance, involves use of hand gestures, leisurely gaits, being lyrical, graceful and expressive to enact a story or to communicate with the audience. The dancer wears ankle bells to accentuate the footwork. The costume and make up used for this dance form is influenced by the cultural environment of South India. The relationship to Carnatic music from the South of India is integral. At a staged performance at present, the musicians who accompany the dancer sit on the right-hand side of the stage. A dancer is accompanied by the nattuvanar, who chants the rhythmic syllables along with his nattuvangam (cymbals), emphasising the rhythm of the dance. Other musicians are mridangam (drums), bamboo flute, violin and sometimes a vina. The vocalist introduces each composition with a specific raga (musical scale) and tala (time cycle of rhythm) and the dancer improvises on stage. This is just an overview of the dance form. Bharatanatyam’s genesis story begins in India; however, the dance is practiced and performed all over the world, including New Zealand. The dance metamorphosed into a global phenomenon after its complex revival process.
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